Catalan (català) is spoken in Catalonia, Valencia (where it is called Valencià), the Balearic Islands (where it is sometimes called MallorquíMenorquí, or Eivissenc in each of the islands), Andorra (where it is the only official language), the extreme south of France (north Catalonia, corresponding more or less to the Pyrénées-Orientales department) and the Sardinian city of Alghero. Spoken by about 7 million people, it is the 8th most spoken language in the European Union. It is, like Spanish, French and Italian, a Romance language, and people who hear it for first time typically get the impression that it is a mix between them. However, it is a separate language, as old as any of the other Romance languages, and you will be very welcome if you try to say some words while you are in a Catalan-speaking region.

Like other Romance languages, Catalan nouns have genders. Every noun is either masculine, like home ("man") or feminine, like dona ("woman"). The gender of things may not always seem to follow from the meaning of the word; why a house (casa) is feminine but a car (cotxe) is masculine is just one of the vagaries of the language. Fortunately, the gender of a noun is often indicated by the last letter of the word; -a and -ó usually indicate feminine nouns (but not always), while masculine words have no common ending.

Adjectives also have gender and number. Like nouns, -a usually indicates the feminine form. Adding an -s at the end of an adjective makes it plural (there are some variants in -os or -es as well). Adjectives need to match the noun they describe in both gender and number. For example, borratxo "drunk", when modifying les dones ("the women"), makes les dones borratxes.

In this guide, where genders of nouns or adjectives come up, the "/a" form is used to differentiate. It should be clear from the context when to use the feminine form and when to use the masculine form.

Written Catalan may seem less phonetic than Spanish or Italian to an English speaker, but it is definitely less complicated to pronounce than French or English. It has variations from one region to another; the model presented here is the standard pronunciation, similar to the language of the region of Barcelona. Each of the following dialectal groups has its differences in pronunciation and vocabulary: Western (Lleida province and Ebre river basin), Balearic, Valencian.

To know how to pronounce vowels in Catalan, it is necessary to know the strong syllable of the word; a, e, and o change if they are in the strong syllable or a weak one. In other words, some vowels are reduced when unstressed.

a

stressed as the 'a' in "article" [ah], and unstressed 'a' in "sofa" [uh]

e

stressed as the 'e' in "pet" [eh], and unstressed 'e' in "open" [uh]

i

like 'ee' in "bee"

o

stressed as the 'o' in "hot" and "port" [oh], unstressed 'oo' in "zoo" [oo]

u

silent between 'g' and 'e/i' and between 'q' and 'e/i', elsewhere as 'u' in "flute" [oo]

Watch for the different accent signs in e and o: è sounds always as 'e' in "bed", é sounds as 'ea' in "bear", ò sounds as 'o' in "bond" and ó sounds like the 'o' in "score". Stress usually falls on the second-last syllable, unless the word ends in a consonant or consonant cluster or it has a written accent. Also, two dots over 'i' or 'u', 'ї' 'ü', indicate that the vowel sound should be pronounced as a separate syllable: Ensaїmada [ehn-SUH-ee-mah-duh] (sweet pastry), diürn [dee-oorn] (in day time).

when followed by 'e' or 'i', like 'c' in "cell", otherwise like 'k' in "skull"

ç

like 'c' in "cell"

d

like 'd' in "dog"

f

like 'f' in "fine"

g

when followed by 'e' or 'i', like 'j' in "james", otherwise like "g" in "go"; in clusters "gue" and "gui", the "u" is silent, unless it bears a diaeresis, as in "güe" and "güi"; in clusters gua,guo,güe,güi, the two first letters like 'Gu' in McGuire or 'w' in "wire"; notice the group -ig after a vowel sounds like "ch".

h

silent

j

like 'j' as in "jean" (French pronunciation); or British English 's' in "pleasure"

k

like 'k' in "skull"

l

like 'l' in "love"

ll

like 'lli' in "million" (palatalized l)

m

like 'm' in "mother"

n

like 'n' in "nice", and like 'n' in "anchor"

ny

like the Spanish "ñ" as in Señor; or US English 'ny' in "canyon"; the y is soft sign.

p

like 'p' in "spoof"

q

in clusters "que" and "qui", the "u" is silent, unless it bears a diaeresis, as in "qüe" and "qüi"; in clusters qua,quo,qüe,qüi, the two first letters like 'Qu' in "quit"

r

like 'tt' in American English "butter"; except at the beginning of a word or after a consonant

r

like 'r' in "row"; a strong trilled Scottish r; at the beginning of a word, or after a consonant

rr

like 'rr' in "mirror"; a strong trilled Scottish r; identical to the sound above

s

like 's' in "sun" except when is between vowels, when it sounds like 'z' in "zone". Sometimes pronounced like a soft "sh".

ss

like 'ss' in "hiss". Always goes between vowels.

t

like 't' in "stop"

tx

pronounced like the 'ch' as in "chip"

v

like 'b' in "bed"

w

like 'w' in "weight" in most English words, like 'b' in "bed" in Germanic words or Catalanised words as ""wàter" (WC) that sounds BAH-tehr

x

like 'sh' in "short", except if is between two vowels, when sounds like the x as in "Axel"; notice the group -ix after a vowel sounds like "sh" as well.

Teniu alcohol? (...) Almost every bar in Spain serves alcohol and some people could think that you are asking for rubbing alcohol.

Is there table service?

Hi ha servei de taules? (...)

A beer/two beers, please.

Una cervesa/dues cerveses, si us plau. (...)

A glass of red/white wine, please.

Un got de vi negre/blanc, si us plau. (...)

A pint, please.

Una pinta de cervesa, si us plau. But most likely a pinta will not be understood, in Catalan speaking Spain it is better to ask for a quinto (KEEN-too) (20 cl), a mitjana (meet-JAH-nuh) (33 cl) or a canya (KA-nyuh) (tap beer).